Timeline of international action against piracy

The Associated Press, The Associated Press

There have been sporadic international efforts to tackle piracy off the coast of Somalia for a number of years. But those efforts became more determined last year following an unprecedented rise in attacks:

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–June 2, 2008: The United Nations authorizes foreign countries to send ships into Somali waters to combat a wave of piracy. The U.N. Security Council resolution was spurred by the capture of three ships and an attempted hijacking of a Japanese tanker within the space of three weeks in April.

–Sept. 25, 2008: World efforts to combat piracy become more determined after Somali pirates seize a Ukrainian cargo ship carrying tanks and other arms.

–Oct 7, 2008: The U.N. Security Council votes unanimously to urge stepped up international action to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia. The resolution also calls on countries to send naval ships and military aircraft to confront the sea bandits.

Following that resolution, more countries declare they will send their flotillas to the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest waterways that links Europe with Asia through the Suez Canal.

–Oct. 9, 2008: NATO announces it is sending a seven-ship naval force to the Gulf of Aden within two weeks. The NATO force joins an already existing multinational force in the Horn of Africa region whose primary focus is anti-terrorism work but collates intelligence on anti-piracy efforts.

–Nov. 15, 2008: Somali pirates seize Saudi supertanker Sirius Star, carrying 2 million barrels of oil worth about $100 million at the time. It is the largest vessel the pirates have captured and the hijacking further spurred international efforts to tackle Somali piracy.

–Dec. 2, 2008: The U.N. Security Council extends for a year its authorization for countries to enter Somalia's territorial waters, with advance notice, and use "all necessary means" to stop acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea.

–Dec. 3, 2008: The European Union announces it is sending its own flotilla. The force takes over the duty of escorting cargo ships carrying humanitarian aid, something individual nations had volunteered to do on rotation for a few months at a time.

–Dec. 16, 2008: The U.N. Security Council votes unanimously to authorize nations to conduct land and air attacks on pirate bases on the coast of the Horn of Africa country. By the end of the year, there are flotillas from the U.S., the European Union, China, India, Iran – among other nations – that are patrolling the Gulf of Aden.

–April 8, 2009: Somali pirates for the first time hijack a U.S.-flagged cargo ship with an all-American crew of 20. The hijacking follows a sudden spike in piracy within a week after global piracy monitors had reported reduced activity since the beginning of the year.